A wide variety of electrical connectors are known of the type wherein a plurality of terminals are mounted within terminal-receiving cavities of a dielectric or plastic housing by a force or press-fit. In essence, the terminals are pressed or pushed into contact-receiving cavities or passages during assembly of the connector. The terminals are positioned at a desired location in the cavity or passage during manufacture and remain in that position during use of the connector. Therefore, proper alignment and spacing of the terminals is important.
Various forms of retention systems have been used to retain such terminals in their respective cavities or passages in the connector housing. Often, the terminals are retained within the cavities by a frictional fit. Most often, such terminals are stamped and formed components of sheet metal material. A common type of retention system utilizes edges of the stamped terminal which fit into a slot-like cavity in the housing and having laterally extending teeth which skive or cut into the plastic material of the housing, within the slot, to prevent the terminal from being withdrawn.
Problems have been encountered with terminal retention systems as described above. Theoretically, the configuration and dimensions of the terminals, along with the dimensions of the housing cavities or slots, are such as to have a predictable retention value and/or alignment capability. In reality, the frictional fit cannot be predicted with certainty. The skiving teeth are designed to cut into the plastic material within the housing slot to prevent withdrawal of the terminal from the housing. Often, the torn or cut slot is damaged to an extent that accurate alignment is not possible.
In addition, with the ever-increasing miniaturization and high density terminal configurations of contemporary electronic connectors, the terminals are received in smaller and smaller connectors with decreasing terminal center-line spacing, which results in thinner and thinner housing walls separating the terminals. When edges of a stamped terminal, with or without skiving teeth, cut into the material of the dielectric housing, the housing actually can be caused to split or crack.
This invention is directed to solving these problems by providing an improved retention system for electrical connectors of the character described.